Most bikers I know are fanatical about cleanliness, writes Malcolm Pickering.

No, I don't mean they take three showers a day. I mean they will go to any lengths to keep their machine looking pristine.

I even know of one enthusiast who, after a weekend riding out, spends every Sunday evening with a toothbrush cleaning every speck of dirt from his beloved mount.

Which is why, I suspect, that everyone I know is currently shunning the dedicated bike parking section in the Gloucester Street Car park in central Middlesbrough.

Why? Because ever since the old central library storehouse facility was demolished is is either a dustbowl or a quagmire depending on the weather.

Contractors who knocked down the old building have left the site as a bare patch of earth, which has been happily seized upon by four-wheelers as an extension of the car park proper, and the council do not seem too upset at collecting the extra £2.10 pences that this is generating.

The problem. When it rains, this area is churned into a farmgate quag, with every vehicle that leaves dragging kilos of mud on to the tarmac proper. This is then diluted by the next downpour to give a liberal layer of muddy water over the whole car park which appears to be virtually undrained, even in good times taking on the appearance of a map of Finland.

This gets splashed up and over anything that dares enter, be it bikes, other cars and even pedestrians.

And when this dries, things are little better. The mud then becomes red dust with any vehicle crossing it giving a fair impression of a Paris-Dakar rally contenstant.

Need I say more? Take your bike there and it will end up either covered in mud or dust.

It has been like this for several weeks now and, frankly, it is out of order, all due to a either a lack of forethought or a couldn't-care -less attititude by the council who simply cannot be unaware of it. It is bang in front of the civic centre.

They should either cone the muddy part off or roll in some dolomite. To leave it as it is is a disgrace.